The third iteration of the modern-day Spider-Man, since Sam Raimi’s original 2002 blockbuster, Homecoming promising some new aspects to the webslinger’s tale, in that it won’t be yet another retelling of the origins, so Uncle Ben won’t get killed on-screen yet again, and that under the truce seemingly drawn between rights holders Sony and the now Disney-owned Marvel, Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark / Iron Man will be making a substantial appearance, a quid pro quo for the cameo by Spidey in Captain America: Civil War, the first appearance of the new Peter Parker, played by British actor Tom Holland (The Impossible / In The Heart Of The Sea / TV’s Wolf Hall). The cast also features Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny / The Wrestler) as a new, and rather younger than usual, Aunt May, but one of the really interesting casting choices is Michael Keaton, whose career has truly undergone a renaissance, with movies such as Birdman (‘14) for which he won an Oscar, Spotlight and the upcoming Kong: Skull Island, as aging and ailing Staten Island inventor Adrian Toomes, or as Marvel readers will otherwise know him, The Vulture, one of Spidey’s earliest villains, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and introduced all the way back in Amazing Spider-Man #2 (1963). The character, at least in the comics, has an interesting backstory, being the inventor of a flight harness that also granted him enhanced strength and longer lifespan. However, he is conned out of his invention by his embezzling business partner, and instead turned to a life of crime out of bitterness and a desire for revenge, so Keaton is basically playing a birdman for real this time. Interestingly, and pertinently when considering the upcoming Suicide Squad from rivals DC, The Vulture has long been involved with The Sinister Six, a supervillain team introduced in 1964 that was comprised of several enemies Spidey had consistently defeated, and which means a potentially big role for Keaton within the Marvel Cinematic Universe should the Sinister Six get the big-screen treatment, and since everything else Marvel ever seems to have printed is apparently in pre-production, one can imagine we’ll be seeing The Vulture again eventually. Screenwriters John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein seem to have avoided the Marvel / Spider-Man curse of cramming supervillains into every nook and cranny, at least as far is known so far, and a certainly varied supporting cast includes Donald Glover (The Martian / TV’s Community), Martin Starr (TV’s Party Down / Silicone Valley), Angourie Rice (These Final Hours / The Nice Guys), Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus / TV’s Dark Blue), Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel / The 5th Wave), stand-up comedian Hannibal Buress, Laura Harrier (TV’s One Life To Live) and Tyle Daly, forever loved for Cagney And Lacey. Jon Watts directs, his third feature after the Eli Roth-produced horror Clown (‘14), and the well regarded indie thriller Cop Car (‘15), and at an estimated budget of $180m (@£136.12m), around 150 times the cost of Clown.